~ Author Stephanie Lawton

The Booker Award

Fellow Mobilian and writers guild board member Angela Quarles has nominated me for the Booker Award. The award targets literary and book-centered blogs. The rules are simple: post my top five books of all time, post the booker award icon, and nominate other bloggers to do the same.

In no particular order and spanning several genres:

1. The Bell Jarby Sylvia Plath: I reread this every few years because my perspective keeps changing. No matter what age you are, however, it remains a fantastic semi-autobiographic descent into madness.

2. Call it cliché, but I adore Jane Austen, particularly Pride and Prejudice. I’ve read all her works, but this one stands out … and not just because of the leading men who have portrayed Mr. Darcy in film versions. 😉 It’s exquisitely written, the pacing is perfect and both main characters change so much during the course of the book.

3. This next book is slightly related to Jane Austen above. While taking a senior-level literature capstone class, I came across a little gem called Fanny Hillby John Cleland. First published in 1748, it’s the eighteenth-century version of Fifty Shades of Grey. I used to as a contrast to the (allegedly) tight-laced works put out by writers like Austen. My pervert professor loved it and I enjoyed watching my fellow students blush. 🙂

4. A Need So Beautifulby Suzanne Young is hands down one of the most moving, spiritual (but non-preachy and nondenominational) and eloquent YA books I’ve ever read. It’s YA, but it seems unfair to label such a book as only suitable for teens. It’s just a magnificent look at self v. the greater good, seizing the day, and looking outside yourself.

5. I’m going to sound cliché again, but I love, love, love 1984by George Orwell. It took me a couple tries in high school to get through it, but once I did, holy crap! It’s the foundation for nearly all dystopian stories published since, so it’s an essential. Even if you hate politics, it’s still a great read.

Funny, the ‘Booker’ (or Man Booker) prize is a prestigious literary award in Canada and the UK (Including all countries in ‘the Commonwealth’), including such works as Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi, Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assasin, and Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient.